The Carlile Round-up: Post #3

Yes, 2 of my siblings have already blogged on this very topic, but it was such a great event, it deserves every post it gets. Here are a few of the pics I think are priceless from The Carlile Round-up. Enjoy! (Sorry for the duplicates as seen on other posts)

Trevor just doing his thing - getting us to central Oregon. He drove all 11 hours on the way home. I was very busy and not able to contribute.

On the way there I appeased Trevor and let him take the "scenic" route. It was a lot prettier than ol' Burns, OR, but it was quite a bit more curvey. The speed at which we took these curves caused some sickness for me, the passenger, but I always sacrifice pain for efficiency and we WERE going to beat the time the GPS said we would get there.

A picture as seen on many other blogs. The beautiful "river" of Sunriver, OR.


Here's a great pic from Trevor. Just capturing Ma and Pa enjoy one of the many, many tennis matches that happened over the week. To quote what my wonderful mother said to Trevor, "I would rather watch Les and Mere play than the U.S. Open." She may be the only person on the face of the earth that would say that. That's why she's our mom!


Photos from the epic match.


Trevor has really caught the tennis bug. He was always trying to get someone on the court with him....and I think he enjoyed having someone to play with that hits a bit harder than I. But if you think these movements above didn't take a toll on Trevor, think again.


This was Trevor by about day 3.


Horseback riding was of course an event during this round-up. This is really my father's world. He did this type of thing growing up. This passion did not get passed down to me, but I did it anyways and by the end of the hour decided I could handle a trot next time.


Trevor, however, seemed right at home on Big Riggs (his horse). There was much time spent "horse whispering" for Trevor.


Much picture taking went on. The best pictures seemed to be those that were snapped prior to the actual picture. What a dream.



This one of Mere is my Downeast-rugged-outdoors-magazine-spread photo. She plays the part so well.

Then of course some random gems.

Football Is No Longer Fun

Well, BYU football is officially no longer fun for me.

In the past I've had fun, but I can't anymore. I've become too emotionally involved, and I need help. Let me tell you my sorrows........

In the Northern Iowa game the 3rd quarter caused me enough stress to make the game not enjoyable. Sure we won 41-17, but I left so concerned about a few things that I couldn't enjoy it. I went home frustrated and confused but eventually attributed it to first game kinks.

Then there's this week against UW. This one was even more difficult for me.

So my grandma invited me up to Bear Lake to accompany her on a family research trip. I figured I'd be a good grandson and go, but told her only upon the condition that I could watch the game. Since her condo didn't have the channel, I called all the restaurants around Bear Lake before I left and finally found one in Montpelier, Idaho (most notable for having its bank robbed by Butch Cassidy - who was raised Mormon by the way) that said they had the channel.

However, on the morning of the game, while walking through the parking lot, I ran into a guy wearing a BYU hat. After my standard greeting of "Go Cougs," we got to talking. I asked him if he was going to watch the game, and if so, where. He told me some long story about how he'd spent 2 hours the night before convincing the owner of their condo to add the right sports package so they could watch the game. And then he said "So we're in 253, come on over."

"Really?" I asked.

"You betcha," he said.

I was ecstatic. I was elated. I was overjoyed. I didn't have to drive 40 minutes to Montpelier and I was going to get to watch it with other Cougar fans. My day had just gotten much better. I wrote the condo number down on my hand and skipped and whistled to my car.

So at 12:55 I showed up at 253 and knocked on the door. No answer. 252. No answer. 251, 250, 254, 263, 153, 123..........no answer. By this time I was FREAKING out. I wandered around the condos looking in people's back windows trying to find these guys but had no luck. Stupid, moronic, flaky, Level 1 fan. I was so mad.

I am not kidding and am not ashamed to say that I was nearly in tears at this point. I didn't know what to do.

Finally, at around 1:30 I decided to cut my losses and drive to Montpelier. I averaged around 95 MPH and got there in 25 minutes. I finally found the right place, the Montpelier Grill, and rushed inside. Luckily the waitress was accommodating and just gave me the remote to the tv and said, "Have at it." There were about 4 minutes left in the first half when I got there.

I ordered some food so the waitress would leave me alone and then got focused on the game. My stress level did not go down at all once I could actually watch. We were inconsistent and I couldn't take it. I was jumping out of my seat and yelling at the tv while the waitress and cook stared at me (there was no one else in the entire place the whole second half).

When Unga went into the endzone I jumped up in exaltation. Only to dive back into my booth when I realized he'd fumbled.

I stood 4 feet in front of the tv the entire final drive.

When everything was all said and done, I felt like I'd just gotten a D on a long test. Stressed, tired, happy that I didn't fail, but not really satisfied with how I did.

On my drive home I had some time to reflect and it was then that I realized that I hadn't had any fun that entire game. I was too nervous to enjoy it. I've decided I need blowouts to really enjoy myself.

So what do I do? But before you answer, just know that I'm not willing to care any less.

Help me out readers.....my mental health and my wife will both thank you.

And luckily on Saturday, I was able to blow off some steam by going out after the game and doing some jet skiing with my grandma. But grandma and the jet ski won't be there every week.

Return of the Droid

For those of you who don't know, my brother Andy (more commonly known as "Droid") has been in Russia for the past 2 years serving a mission. He just got home in August and Lesley and I went home to see him. He talks a little weird because of his Russian syntax, but it was a great visit. We had a good time seeing him after so long. Here are a few pics from that weekend.

Since I was flying in about 20 minutes before Andy, I was able to go directly to his terminal and wait for him there, and not at security. I snapped this shot right as he got off the plane onto the tarmac.


Left: Droid and 'rents Right: Droid, still smaller than his older brothers


Uncle Andy with his nieces


He picked up this one-eye cross-eyed thing in Russia. Crazy Ruskies.


Left: Convincing Cameron that he's met Andy before Right: The semi-awkward brother hug


A little Winn family street football
(Check out the size disparity between Brad & Cameron)

Because Andy's such a big golfer, we had a mini golf tournament on Saturday. I wanted to take advantage of Andy not having played in 2 years and get a victory over him, but I didn't even come close. I guess my 11 on hole 15 didn't help too much. It took Andy about 5 swings and he was back to his smooth swinging ways.

It's good to have Andy back. We're very proud of the service he performed the last 2 years in Russia. He's blessed the lives of so many over there, as well as his family back here in the United States. We're proud of you Droid.

He'll be heading to BYU-Idaho this week to begin school. He has a blog now too! Droid's Dome. Check out his post about his first date post mission.